Send corporations off to jail

February 2, 2014

If the minimum wage is increased to a livable wage and unemployment compensation is extended, the entire economy will collapse -so say the lobbyists and hired guns of the corporate structure. That's manure.

First of all, most newly created jobs are in low-wage areas of retail or service jobs. These jobs are low-paying jobs with no future, no pensions and no long-term lives. Too many are permanent part-time jobs, whose workers get less than 30 hours a week so they can't qualify for any benefits.

Second, corporate America has been investing in foreign countries for the last 15 years, even to the extent that jobs and manufacturing facilities have moved off-shore to super-low-wage economies. As a result, corporate profits have skyrocketed to levels never seen in centuries. We see stock values going up every year. The Standard and Poor's was up 32 percent in 2013, and the stock market is more than 16,000 on the Dow. Great news for big corporations and wealthy investors, but sad news for the people who are trying to find decent-paying jobs.

Last, by their own admission, corporate profits are parked in offshore tax havens, to the tune of $1.2 trillion. But these robber barons refuse to bring this money back to the U.S. because they'll have to pay a rate of 35 percent. Through their hired guns, they're negotiating with Congress to pay a 5 percent tax rate, so the money can come back to this country. They're created great wealth but almost no jobs. And, they intend on keeping that money no matter how much it hurts this country. They'll send your job overseas, cut your wages, destroy the entire middle class, send your kids off to fight around the globe and refuse to pay their fair share to fund the economy. As it's been said, it's all about the money.

The really disgusting part about this whole thing is that the interest alone they've earned from all that money could raise the minimum wage to $20 an hour and never put a dent in their bank accounts.

So the next time you vote, take some time and find out how your member of Congress has voted on extending unemployment benefits, raising the minimum wage and handing tax breaks to corporations that are sitting on trillions of offshore dollars.

If corporations really are people, they should be sent to jail for tax evasion.